[soc.religion.christian] Dating the Year of Christ's Birth

wcsa@iwtdr.att.com (Willard C Smith) (10/13/89)

Simply put, no one can agree on the date of Jesus's birth, except that the 
original dating system is wrong.  Dionysius Exiguus is credited with
originating the present system about the year 532 A.D.  He supposed that
Jesus was born on December 25th in the year of Rome 753.

Alfred Edersheim, has argued extensively for Jesus's Birth occurring in 749
AUC (ie. 4 BC).  This is a summary of his reasons:

1-Jesus was definitely born before the death of Herod the Great, Herod's
  death occurred shortly before the passover of 750 AUC. Josephus states
  that a lunar eclipse (Ant. xvii. 6. 4) occurred shortly before his death
  and the date of that eclipse can be computed.

2-Luke 3:1,23 seem to link the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Ceaser
  to Jesus when he about 30. Of course this means that Jesus was in his 30th
  year (29 by our reckoning, because ancient Jews started counting at one
  and not zero).  The controversy about using this method centers around
  whether or not you count the reign of Tiberius from 779 AUC, when he ruled
  as a co-regent with Augustus, or whether you count it from 781 AUC, when he
  ruled solely.

  Most commentators today seem to agree that 779 AUC is the date to use since
  that is the time that Tiberius had authority over the provinces. Edersheim
  agrees with this position and cites those who he feels have verified this
  attitude of the provincials.

3-Edersheim computes the Birth of John the Baptist, based on the annunciation
  to his father (Luke 1:5) when he was officiating in 'the course of Abia.'
  Based on statements of Josephus concerning which course was officiating at
  the time of the destruction of the Temple (War vi. 4, 1, 5) and computing
  backward, 'the course of Abia' was officating in 748 AUC.  According to
  Luke 1:26, six months after John was conceived, the angel Gabriel appeared
  to Mary.

4-One can make a similar computation, though crude, by examining John 2:20.
  There one can relate the age of Jesus to the time in which the temple was
  constructed. The temple had been under construction for 46 years, and we
  know when the temple was begun (ie. 20 BC), then one can argue that this
  event took place in 26 AD. Computing backward, one may place the birth of
  Jesus at 4 BC.

There are two more points that Edersheim tries to make about dating the birth
of Jesus:

1-The first point deals with the "star" of Bethlehem. Edersheim first
  searches for any type of Jewish tradition linking a star with the
  Messiah, and once found tries to see if it corresponds to any real
  happening.  Edersheim quotes portions from several smaller midrashim to
  show that there was a "tradition" that a "star" would appear two years
  before the Messiah's birth. He also points out a statement by one well
  known Jewish commentator, Abrabanel, that a conjunction of Jupiter and
  Saturn in the constellation Pisces betokened special events for Israel
  and that such an event occurred before the birth of Moses and that it
  would occur before the arrival of the Messiah (as a token of deliverance).

  Edersheim then shows that such a conjunction (which might occur only once
  every 800 years) did take place in 747 AUC no less than three times.
  While noone can argue for certainity that this is what is meant by the
  star, Edersheim thinks it remarkable that all this is happening at the
  same time.

  Personally speaking, this argument sounds like so much special pleading
  (considering the multitude of Christmas star theories) that I can take
  it or leave it.

2-Edersheim also addresses the problem of the taxing of the Quirnius, which
  has apparently been used to try and date the birth of Jesus to about 6 or
  7 AD. While he does seem to demolish it as a method for dating his birth,
  especially in light of the above four points, the second problem, that of
  whether Matthew and Luke's account of his birth in Bethlehem is retelling
  a myth rather than what they personally knew, is not resolved completely.

Alfred Edersheim, _The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah_
    Vol 2, appendix 7, 1901.

While Edersheim argues that Jesus was born in December and tries all sorts of
things to nail it down to a range between October and December, I think that
he is pushing it. Based on the arguments of the first four points I think
that one can probably accept the idea that Jesus was born in 4 BC.

-- 
                   1100 E. Warrenville Rd., Naperville, IL
Willard C. Smith   (312) 979-0024
                   att!iwtdr!wcsa
      "It's life, Captain, but not as we know it."